Bear Good Fruit!

Jeremiah 24

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, April 16.

What happens when you are confused about right and wrong, unable to discern what is good and what is bad? You can sincerely strive to do the right thing, only to find out that you were misled in the goals you were pursuing. That is the situation in Jerusalem as the Babylonians brought the king and his entourage out of Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:10-20). Shouldn’t the people resist the occupying force and fight against Babylon, defending their city unto death? As contrary to common sense as it sounds, God’s will for them was to surrender to the enemy and be taken into Babylonian captivity. The prophet illustrated God’s plan for His people with a prophetic sign in Jeremiah 24:1-2, 5, and 8:

The Lord showed me: behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord! One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness. … “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans.’ … ‘But like the bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness – indeed, thus says the Lord – so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt.’”

It can be difficult to discern right from wrong, good from evil in today’s world. Ultimately, you must act upon what you believe to be true, as Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-20).

Seize the moment and bear good fruit by abiding in Jesus (John 15:1-16). Surrender to God first in every circumstance, and He will help you know the right next step (Romans 12:1-2).

God bless you!

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

When all is Forlorn!

Jeremiah 23

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, April 15.

In The Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, “Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.” What happens to people when despair sets in? After the oracles of judgment against the final kings of Judah, the hope of the Davidic lineage was seemingly lost. The kings had forsaken God, yet, during the devastating consequences of their failures, God renewed the people’s hope, reminding them to trust in Him alone. In Jeremiah 23:5-8, God gave His people an oracle of restoration, promising the Coming Messiah:

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord our righteousness.’ Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘as the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”

Hope is a necessary ingredient to life. Without hope, it’s easy to become sad and lonely, with no positive expectation for the future. It’s nearly impossible to be resilient apart from hope; we need a little light to take the right next step. While it is common to derive hope from your personal well-being and healthy relationships, what happens if you don’t have those things?

Seize the moment and hope in the Lord when all is forlorn, anchor your life in Jesus, the Messiah who has come and will return soon (Hebrews 6:19-20).

God bless you!

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

Today’s worship song focus :

Speak to the Mountains

I John 4:4 (NASB95)          

Why would I worry when giants come calling my name?
My God is so much bigger than troubles I face

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Ken reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

If you would like to listen to this song, click on this link:

Speak to the Mountains

The Heart of Leadership!

Jeremiah 22

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, April 12.

To be a good leader, you first need to be a great follower. Any person who is incapable of being submissive to authority should never be put into a position of leadership. Jesus modeled servant leadership for His disciples, commanding them to follow His example in Matthew 20:25-28:

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

In Jeremiah 22:13-16, six hundred years prior to Jesus saying this to His disciples, God rebuked the final kings of Judah for their failure of leadership:

“Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness and his upper rooms without justice, who uses his neighbor’s services without pay and does not give him his wages, who says, ‘I will build myself a roomy house with spacious upper rooms, and cut out its windows, paneling it with cedar and painting it bright red.’ Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy; then it was well. Is not that what it means to know Me?” Declares the Lord.

Jerusalem could not be saved simply by having a king of David’s lineage on the throne; God desired, and still desires today, to work through people who have David’s heart –  “who will do all My will” (Acts 13:22).

Seize the moment and seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).

God bless you!

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

Day 1486

Surrender or Die!

Jeremiah 21

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, April 11.

There are two things a military commander never wants to do – retreat or surrender. Strategically, both can be the right decision when it is the only way to save your people, so that you can fight another day. That was the exact situation facing the people of Jerusalem, as declared by the prophet in Jeremiah 21:8-10:

“You shall also say to this people, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He who dwells in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence; but he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his own life as booty. For I have set My face against this city for harm and not for good,” declares the Lord. “It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire.” ’ ”

Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, was sieging Jerusalem, and Zedekiah, the king of Judah, was hoping God would rescue them. That was why he sent messengers to Jeremiah, just like King Hezekiah sent messengers to Isaiah when the Assyrians were besieging Jerusalem, over a century prior in Isaiah 36-37. Unfortunately, the destruction of Jerusalem was imminent as a righteous judgment against them for not seizing the moment of God’s former clemency to repent and walk in His ancient paths (Jeremiah 6:16). God’s direct response to Zedekiah, in Jeremiah 21:5, was clear, “I Myself will war against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, even in anger and wrath and great indignation.” There is only one right response to God’s wrath against sin, “I surrender all.”

Seize the moment and repent by walking in the ancient paths of God by taking on the easy yoke of Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30).

God bless you!

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

YOUTUBE:

Count the Cost!

Jeremiah 20

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, April 10.

Jesus was crucified for being faithful to God. Do you believe there will be no hardship when you take you up your cross and follow Jesus? Paul, who suffered greatly as an apostle (2 Corinthians 11:23-28), explained the grave danger that comes with being God’s chosen vessel, from 2 Corinthians 4:7-10:

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

The messengers of God have always suffered greatly for their faithfulness, often at the hands of the people they were sent to deliver their message. Jeremiah’s suffering was introduced in Jeremiah 20:1-2, “When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put him in the stocks that were at the upper Benjamin Gate, which was by the house of the Lord.” Jeremiah’s suffering was real, and it was at every level of his being. In Jeremiah 20:7-18, the prophet lamented his life, wishing he had never been born. As hard as it may be to accept, we are forewarned to expect such suffering ourselves. Peter, martyred for his faithfulness to Jesus, explained in 1 Peter 2:20b-21, “But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.”

Seize the moment and count the cost of obedience to following Jesus (Luke 14:27-30).

God bless you!

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

Be a Vessel for God’s Glory!

Jeremiah 19

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, April 9.

Considering Jeremiah’s recent visit to the potter’s house, he was instructed next to build upon the same illustration with a new symbolic act. In Jeremiah 19:1-2, the Sovereign Lord commanded the prophet, “Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests. Then go out to the valley of Ben-hinnom [aka Gehenna], which is by the entrance of the potsherd gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you.” God declared His righteous judgment upon a people who had stiffened their necks and hardened their hearts against Him to worship idols and walk in rebellion. Then, like a master teacher, God emphasized His teachings in Jeremiah 19:10-15:

Then you are to break the jar in the sight of the men who accompany you and say to them, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Just so will I break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bury in Topheth [the valley of Ben-hinnom] because there is no other place for burial. This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,’ declares the Lord, ‘so as to make this city like Topheth. … because they have stiffened their necks so as not to heed My words.’”

As long as the clay remains soft and moldable in the Potter’s hands, He would not waste the precious resource by destroying it. Unless the hardened jar has been approved by the Potter for His intended purposes, His only recourse is to shatter the useless vessel so that it will not discredit His name.

Seize the moment and be a chosen vessel for God’s glory by allowing Him to shape you into a useable jar of clay, one which contains the treasure of His name (2 Corinthians 4:7; 2 Timothy 2:20-21; Ephesians 2:10).

God bless you!

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

Remain Workable in the Potter’s Hands!

Jeremiah 18

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, April 8.

When I was in high school, I took a potter’s wheel class, and I loved it. It never occurred to me that the clay would not become what I fashioned it to be. For the clay to become what I envisioned it to be, it had to be workable in my hands; it had to remain soft and moldable. This is the imagery invoked by the prophet in Jeremiah 18:2-6:

Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.”

As I worked the clay on the potter’s wheel, I constantly wet it so that it would spin in my hands, minimizing the friction between my hands and the clay. I had to keep my eyes on the clay and use both hands to form it; it was amazing how subtle and gentle I had to be to form the clay into a usable vessel, with the pressure often coming from the inside of the forming vessel, even though I kept a supportive hand on the outside. As long as the clay remained soft and workable, I could start again with the same clay. Isn’t that what God is saying to each of us in our own lives, “Remain workable in My hands!”

Seize the moment and remain workable in the Potter’s hands! Trust the Sovereign God to work something beautiful out of your life.

God bless you!

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.